IN ORDER to comprehend the dilemma of opposition politics in the country, there is need to look at both the frustrations emanating from expelled ZANU PF Mashonaland West Provincial Chairman Temba Mliswa and the performance of the ruling which is a clear mark of the difference between the good and the great. The good is that there are still some remnants of the opposition after their July 31 2013 harmonised elections demolition by ZANU PF while the great is that the cleansing process in the ruling party has given it an unassailable position in so far as ruling and delivering to the majority is concerned. That good also manifests itself in the banal facts that while the opposition MDC-T, together with their anti-Zimbabwe cousins in the so-called civil society have been claiming that there is no democracy in the country, the compelling issue is that they owe their existence to the very democracy in Zimbabwe they clamour for! The undisputable point is that there is an abundance of democracy in Zimbabwe. Democracy was brought by ZANU. Democracy was brought by the gun. It came from those young men and women who crossed the country’s borders to fight the enemy. It was brought by those veterans who dislodged the colonial system. At the heart of their concerns were the abuse of their people, plunder of their land and denial of their rights by the colonialists. This is where their opposition came from. Today, despondently we have an opposition seeking viciously to restore the old order under the guise of ‘advancing and promoting democracy in Zimbabwe’. Granted, opposition parties by their very nature are supposed to keep ruling parties under check, give them a run for their money and at times offer alternative direction to the politics but what we have in the country is simply disaster masquerading as the opposition. This is the opposition we have in Zimbabwe, one devoid of national interests and the interests of the masses. The opposition is in shambles. It is in tatters because confronting a well-oiled machine like ZANU PF needs clear cut strategies far detached from opposing such programmes as the Land Reform and Resettlement and the ongoing Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment. It needs much more than haywire media outlets and mouthpieces that just carp without proffering viable solutions. It equally needs something more than the anger and anguish of Western powers whose myopic mentality that assaulting an economy of a perceived enemy will bring chronic failures like Morgan Tsvangirai and his lousy acolytes to dismantle President Robert Mugabe’s tried and tested Government from power. This is why ZANU PF has had to traverse a road laden with pain and anguish in order for them to fulfill the people’s mandate. It has not and will never be an easy route and path for ZANU PF as long as they vigorously pursue that path of preserving the honour of the people of Zimbabwe. And its association and marriage with the majority has been premised on the suffering the party has gone through. Its relationship with the people, arguably the best of companionships is drawn from what it stands for. ZANU PF stands for the people. ZANU PF is the people and the people are ZANU PF. For as long as you maintain this love affair with the people, you shall continue to thump the opposition, throw it into perpetual states of disarray; you suffer for your love comrades. For as long as you continue to charm the people, enemies will target you, they will lie about, they will throw stones at you (as former British Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Robin Cook anticipated and predicted in 1999), they will write falsehoods about you dearest comrades. There has been rather a measly attempt by some sections of the media which are also part of those who claim that there is no democracy, to present ZANU PF as a party that has ‘split’. This falsehood has been peddled not only as an anti-ZANU PF arrow, but anti-Zimbabwe punch. Those forces behind this lie and assault are helplessly and hopelessly trying to create the impression that Zimbabwe is a pariah state. But here are the facts. ZANU PF has not, cannot and will not split because it has chucked out some bad apples. Mliswa was last Wednesday spot on, on this one. “If ZANU PF was to split it should have happened the day Rugare Gumbo was expelled from the Politburo,” said Mliswa. This is why Mliswa is agitated at the failure by the ousted Dr Joice Mujuru to form their own political party. If anything, we can reliably inform the nation that talk of the formation of the so-called People’s First is being hampered by two issues, namely lack of resources and capacity to mobilise people against ZANU PF. Despite her bravado this week, Joice Mujuru knows truly well that she will not risk freezing her career by taking ZANU PF head on. Meanwhile, at ZANU PF, those who acted contrary to the party’s statues will continue to be disciplined accordingly. Make no mistake about it, the suspensions and disciplining of those who crossed the line will go ahead until those found guilty repent and restore their commitment to the party not to individuals. What shall come out of this as a polished and supercharged ZANU PF. This is for 2018! Let those with ears listen.